Ratings are not properly handled in PL5 5.1.1. An issue arises whereby ratings are lost if the file is moved without the knowledge of the application; e.g. by Finder or in Terminal.
You can see this for yourself by selecting a directory and taking note of the ratings, then quitting PL5. In Finder, rename the directory to something else, and then come back to it via PL5. The ratings will be gone, even if you try to import sidecars. Warning: You will lose ratings for all files in the folder.
My work flow puts new images in an “inbound” folder, where I work on them until done, and then move them over to archive. When the files are moved within PL5, no problem, but in Finder, the ratings are lost. It is not reasonable to expect that the files will always be moved by PL.
Ratings are stored in the sidecar files, so it would seem to be a no-brainer to simply reload the rating from the sidecar. However, that doesn’t work. Apparently, the ratings are also stored in the database.
Regardless, Import from Sidecars should restore the value.
Also noticed – If I set the rating by hand in the .dop sidecar file (e.g. Rating = 3), it is not picked up by the application.
It seems abundantly clear that ratings are set in the app, and stored in both the sidecar and the database, but are never read back from the sidecar, even if you specifically request it through import sidecar.
I use ratings a lot. I have over 12,000 images now that used a specific scheme for ratings. Losing that would be a gut punch for me.
Can you please, pretty please, look into what is happening with ratings? Maybe I have not completely captured the problem here, but something is definitely amiss.
Ratings are a miracle for me in DxO. And a very mixed bag (=unreliable and fragile) as well. As you say, getting back lost ratings, is close to impossible.
I just experienced too many strange things with this “DOP + database” combination.
Last weekend I rated some picture in the camera during a long train ride home.
In DxO, they showed up after import - good.
The I wanted to add GPS data and used Graphic Converter to do so. But simply forgot to write altered ratings into the files. So in GC the ratings from cameras were visible,
Added GPS and saved it to XMP sidecar.
Let DxO read metadata
GPS appeared, altered ratings went back to the (wrong) values out of camera.
Okay, so then check the backup and change ratings back? Not working.
But the images in the project (played around a bit to collect the ones I wanted to add to a web gallery) still had the altered ratings. What?
I give up the idea to use ratings reliably in PL, I find the whole concept (if there is one…) of metadata management is just asking for troubles and I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s unhappy with them.
After digging around in sqlite, I figured out how to recover and set ratings again. Using a list of images and ratings I have been maintaining in Excel, it was a simple matter of using the filenames and their ratings to concoct a sqlite script to do the trick.
I’ve just had a conversion with support about this issue. It’s the same on Windows btw.
Apparently it was a deliberate decision in PL5 not to read ratings from the sidecar file based on “feedback received”. I can’t imagine who would ask for the current behaviour.
I edit my photos on a local drive and then copy to a network drive. That loses all my ratings. Rename the folder? Lose all the ratings. Re-install windows? Lose all the ratings. Open on my laptop rather than desktop? No ratings visible.
The nice thing about sidecar files is you don’t have to worry about database management. I see the value in having a local DB for performance reasons as long as it’s always populated by the file version. Should always be able to wipe the DB and have it repopulated from the sidecars. This is true for other adjustments, just not ratings for some arbitrary reason.
That excuse doesn’t make sense. Who would ask for something so absurd, and why would DxO prioritise that over all of the other features that are in the queue? It does not pass the smell test.
I think the problem is elsewhere. In PL5, the parameter in the sidecar was changed from “Rank” to “Rating.” PL5 exports ratings to “Rating” but it will not import from “Rating.”
It will, however, correctly import from “Rank.”
If you have an image where you’ve lost the ratings, find its associated .dop file, edit it in a text editor, change “Rating” to “Rank”, open it PL5, and then import sidecars on the image.
If you or others can confirm this, it should be logged as a defect.